A sobbing bride told yesterday how she and her husband barricaded themselves in their bathroom for 24 hours sheltering from 150mph Hurricane Dean.

Terrified honeymooner Louise Baines, 30, wept from her hotel in Jamaica: "I'm so, so scared. Nobody has an evacuation plan for us.

"We're stuck here on our own with nine square metres of space. The waves are crashing outside but there's no other sound. It feels completely deserted."

Louise and husband Lewis, also 30, were among 5,000 Brits trapped in their hotels as Dean tore in ripping off roofs, uprooting trees and toppling power lines.

Thousands of homes were left without electricity or phone.

One man died when his house collapsed and another was killed by flying debris. Last night the hurricane, which has claimed at least nine lives, was bearing down on Mexico's Yucatan peninsula.

There were mounting fears it could increase to a Category Five storm - the same strength as Hurricane Katrina which devastated New Orleans in 2005.

In the popular resort of Cancun 4,500 of 9,000 British holidaymakers were evacuated. Those on the island of Cozumel were moved to the mainland.

Workers on oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico were shuttled to shore.

Belize, south of Mexico, evacuated 6,000 people from the country's main tourist resort, San Pedro.

Earlier, thousands of tourists were moved out from the Cayman Islands which avoided a direct hit. Speaking just after Dean had passed, evacuation co-ordinator Zemrie Thompson, said: "Whichever God you believe in, now's the time to bow your head and pray to him."

"Three company representatives were present at the Gran Bahia Principe Jamaica hotel throughout the duration of the hurricane and remain in the resort at present."

In the stricken capital of Kingston battened down Christian Aid worker Rhian Holder said: "It's very, very loud out there.

"The wind is roaring and shrieking and trees are breaking. You can hear branches snapping, thuds, things falling and you're not sure what's going on."

Financial adviser Alison Coleman, 24, of Sutton in Ashfield, Notts, said: "The storm was really scary. Water poured in under our windows and the wind was so strong the glass was flexing. I was terrified."

Across the battered island electricity was switched off and people at risk of severe flooding sent to 500 emergency shelters.

Brit Elaine Campbell, who lives in Hanover on the north west tip of Jamaica, said: "We can't find a shelter. A lot of hotels have stopped taking guests. So all we can do is pray.

"It's our wooden-tiled roofs that we're most concerned about. We spent all day yesterday driving in extra nails."

In a desperate attempt to ease shortages Virgin Atlantic jetted to Jamaica thousands of food packs and blankets.

"One minute we're told we could be evacuated to a local school. The next, we're told we may have to go down to the basement."

Fishermen Maclovio Kanul shut up his beachfront shack and said: "We're leaving. You don't play around with nature.

"We still haven't been able to recover from Wilma. Now this is coming."

Hurricane Wilma cost Cancun £2.2billion when it struck in 2005. Briton Michelle Barnes, who lives in nearby Quintana Roo, said: "Supplies in stores were cleared off the shelves by Friday. At the moment we're experiencing floods and flash downpours."

Across Britain, families waited desperately for news of relatives. The children of Candida Barnes, of Leicester, are staying in Jamaica with their great-gran.

Candida said: "This has got to be one of the most terrifying moments of my life. All I can do is hope and pray."

Among those who died in Dean's path were a mother and her seven-year-old son crushed by a landslide in Dominica.

A man drowned retrieving a cow from a river, a boy was swept out to sea and a woman in her 80s died of a suspected heart attack.

Us space shuttle Endeavour is arriving back a day early today in case the storm heads towards Nasa's base in Houston.

1,836 people perished when Hurricane Katrina struck America's Gold Coast on August 23, 2005. Worst hit was New Orleans which flooded as the levee failed.